‘Suicide Squad’ Director Tweets First Look at Jared Leto’s Joker

Okay, so maybe that’s not technically Jared Leto’s Joker. Maybe that’s just a slightly out-of-focus Jared Leto with green hair. He doesn’t have the white makeup or the purple suit or the bright red lips. But he’s got the hair. It’s a start. (Also, given the pose, it’s got to be a reference to this classic image of the Joker, from the famous Batman story The Killing Joke.)

There’s a lot to be curious about around Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad, based on the DC comic about a group of super-villains forced into suicide missions by the U.S. government. It’s going to be Will Smith’s first time in a big comic-book movie, and it’s also a major step forward for David Ayer, the writer and director of films like End of Watch and Fury. But all anyone really cares about is the Joker. The last time someone played him onscreen, that someone (the late great Heath Ledger) won an Oscar and radically redefined the character. What will Leto do to make his mark on the Clown Prince of Crime?

Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 5, 2016 with a cast that also includes Viola Davis, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, and Jai Courtney, along with Jared Leto, if anyone can find him.